Physics 21900
General Physics II
Electricity, Magnetism and Optics
Lecture 16 – Chapter 21.1-2
Propagation and Reflection of Light
Fall 2015 SemesterProf. Matthew Jones
Exam #2 will be on November 5th
in Phys 112 at 8:00 pm
Electric current, DC circuits, Kirchhoff’s Rules
Magnetic Fields, Lorentz Force, Forces on Currents
Ampere’s Law, Magnetic Induction, Lenz’s Law
Induced EMF, AC Voltage, Transformers
Announcement
Historical Context
• Optics is arguably the oldest discipline in physics
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_optics
• The European scientific establishment (1600’s) debated whether light was a wave phenomena or a stream of particles
– Arguments for and against either viewpoint
– Not satisfactorily resolved until the introduction of Quantum Mechanics in the early 20th century
• A theory of light first needs to describe the obvious:
– Reflection (mirrors)
– Refraction (lenses)
Connection With Electricity and Magnetism
• Faraday’s law:
ℇ = −ΔΦ�
Δ�• The changing magnetic field creates an electric
field (which produces the EMF)
• It turns out that likewise, a changing electric field produces a magnetic field.
• This process can continue indefinitely…
• Light is an oscillating electric-magnetic field propagating through free space.
• Speed of light is � =
���in terms of electric and
magnetic constants.
Ray Diagrams
• For practical purposes (for now) light travels in
straight lines, away from a source.
• So we draw a light ray as an arrow pointing away
from the source
• Diagrams that have rays in them are called ray
diagrams.
Ray Diagrams
Each point on an extended light source emits
rays in many different directions
This can be represented by many different rays
diverging from that point.
The rays propagate in straight lines until they
encounter an interface to another type of
material.
This defines the ray model of light.
Shadows
• Light will be blocked by an opaque object and form a shadow.
• A shadow (in case you didn’t already know) is a dark area behind an object where no light reaches.
• The Latin word for shadow is umbra.
• A dim region that is reached by a little bit of light is called a penumbra.
Umbra and Penumbra
• Point light sources produce umbras.
• Multiple point sources or extended light
sources penumbras.
Example: solar eclipseExample: fine art
Pinhole Camera
• A light-tight box with a small hole in it allows a (relatively)
sharp image to be formed.
• This is called a “pinhole camera” or more artistically, a
“camera obscura”.
• The image can expose a photographic plate
Reflection of Light
• When viewed from above, light from a laser
pointer reflects off a vertical mirror:
Definitions
• Incident light: the light striking the mirror.
• Normal line: a line perpendicular to the
surface of the mirror at the point where the
light hits it.
• Angle of incidence: angle between the
incident beam and the normal line.
• Angle of reflection: angle between the
reflected beam and the normal line.
Many optical manipulations can be
performed using just mirrors
Most of the complications come from working out the geometry.